


In the Interest of the Child

by Telaryn



Series: The Hero and The Bad Boy [32]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Bad Decisions, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Conflict, Custody Arrangements, Emotional Baggage, Established Relationship, M/M, Negotiations, Past Abuse, Past Relationship(s), Religious Conflict, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-03-14 12:44:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3411080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telaryn/pseuds/Telaryn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the wedding draws closer, Natasha begins pushing Clint and Quinn to consider options on protecting Quinn's infant daughter once he is publicly and legally tied to an Avenger.  One of the options available to them is a young Pakistani girl from Jersey City who has been making quite a name for herself in the superhero community.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Interest of the Child

**Author's Note:**

> I never thought I'd still be thinking of stories for these two, but here we are! This next handful of stories is likely to be the last, however...I might come back here in the future, but the wedding is going to be the last story I tell in the context of The Hero and the Bad Boy. Thank you so much to everybody who has come with me on this journey and turned out to be fans of this little ship that was never supposed to be.
> 
> I also want to point out during these next handful of stories that any errors in my representation of Islam or its tenets is not intentional. I have done what research I reasonably could. The character of Badria is a tragedy and an aberration - there are no winners between her and Quinn, nor are there likely to ever be.

“Quinn should be here.”

Clint tensed as another car turned onto the empty street. It was bothering him more than it should that he didn’t even know what kind of car Jess was driving these days. _How is this even my life?_ He could feel the weight of Natasha’s gaze on him, without turning to verify it, and knew his partner was annoyed with him.

“You know full well the Sahars aren’t going to agree to this if they think Quinn had a direct hand in it,” she sighed. “You’re just pissed you didn’t think of it before Stark did.”

That almost got him to turn and glare directly at her – it was way too much truth packed into way too few words – but at that moment he spotted a small red sports car pulling over to the side of the street and parking directly behind his Mustang. “They’re here,” he said, watching Jess and a teenage girl get out of the car. “God – she’s younger than I thought!”

“What does sixteen mean to you anyway, Barton?” Nat asked as he finally left his post to join her at the table in the middle of the room. Clint couldn’t help it – he gave her a look that startled a snort of laughter out of her. “Okay,” she conceded, “but I’d keep that one to yourself. Carol looks on this girl as her protégé, and you know Jess still has issues with you dumping her for your crush on Coulson.”

“Technically I dumped Jess for my crush on you,” Clint felt the urge to point out. “Which, under the circumstances, I think I should be forgiven for because…well…” He gestured at her in a clear indication that anyone with a pulse should be forgiven for carrying a crush on Natasha Romanoff.

Nat raised one eyebrow at him. “Important thing being that you dumped her for a crush on someone else,” she said. “Not to mention you’re now engaged to a man, so she doesn’t even have the traditional feminine luxury of being catty about your fiancé.”

Clint suspected there was a lot more Nat could lecture him about when it came to his prior relationships, but he was saved by a knock on the door. It opened a moment later, revealing Jessica Drew – one of his ex-girlfriends, and a part-time Avenger in her own right. Trailing behind Jess was a teenaged girl with a Middle Eastern cast to her features. _Pakistani_ Clint’s brain supplied, remembering what he had read on Kamala Khan the night before. _First generation American, born in Jersey City._ Despite his best intentions, Clint’s inner New Yorker cringed at the idea.

“Hawkeye…Black Widow…” Jess said, pulling him out of his thought, “I’d like to you to meet the current Ms. Marvel – Kamala Khan.”

Nat was closer, so she extended her hand first. “Call me Natasha,” she said. Clint struggled to conceal a smile as Kamala’s dark eyes widened. “Carol Danvers speaks very well of you.”

“Oh wow – thank you!” Kamala said, shaking Nat’s hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you two.”

Clint had moved up behind Nat – now he stepped forward and extended his own hand. “Clint,” he said, allowing her the same courtesy Natasha had. “And you should probably forget most of what you’ve heard about me,” he added, unable to keep from glancing at Jess.

“It’s not bad – I promise,” Kamala said. “You guys have a lot of fans out there on the net – everybody loves the whole star-crossed…” Her voice trailed off suddenly, almost as if she was remembering where she was and why. “Yeah, shutting up now,” she muttered, biting her bottom lip. “Sorry.”

“Carol told me you were a fan before you were changed,” Natasha said smoothly, gesturing them all to take seats around the table. “I would have thought a year in the trenches would have worn the shine off of most of us for you.”

“Clint watches reality television,” Jess interjected, shooting him a wicked side-eye. “ _Really_ bad reality television.”

“All right,” Clint sighed, before Jess could bring up the ill-fated ‘Supernanny’ marathon. _Again._ “Can we get down to business?”

Kamala glanced at each of them in turn. “Captain Marvel said you all needed my help with something, but she was a little vague on the details.”

Clint supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised when Nat and Jess both turned to look at him, but he still engaged in a mostly silent argument with Natasha, trying to push her into laying out the whole business instead. He still felt wrong about Quinn being excluded from the meeting, and even though Quinn had assured him that he was comfortable with Clint representing him on this, the feeling wouldn’t leave him.

“All right,” he said finally, focusing on the girl sitting across from him. “First things first – if I say anything grossly inappropriate or offensive, apologies up front. I’m out of practice talking with teenagers, and some of what I’m about to tell you gets a little dark.”

Kamala shrugged. “Apology accepted. Just do the best you can.”

Painfully aware that any further attempts at stalling were likely to result in a serious beat-down from Natasha, Clint drew a breath and said, “It’s not common knowledge outside the Avengers yet, but I’m getting married in a couple of weeks.” He smiled as he saw Kamala’s eyes shift automatically to Natasha. “ _His_ name is Jonah Quinn. He works for Stark Industries.”

Kamala’s eyes widened briefly, but Clint saw her process the new information quickly and smoothly adjust her thought processes in the right direction. _I see why Carol likes her,_ he thought, boosting his own estimation of Kamala several steps. “Approximately a year ago, Quinn fathered a child with an Afghani woman.” His stomach clenched reflexively as he dutifully shoved past all the ugliness masked by such a basic statement. “The mother isn’t in the picture anymore, but Quinn doesn’t have custody either. Hanifah lives with her aunt and uncle in Newark.”

 _Hanifah – ‘true believer’._ Even the baby’s name had been chosen with the intent of making Quinn an outsider in his daughter’s life. 

Clint didn’t know whether he was taking too long to get to the point, or Natasha was finally taking pity on him, but he was grateful when she stepped in. “The child’s safety hasn’t been an issue until now,” she said to Kamala, “but once Quinn and Clint are married that changes.”

They’d lost her. “And you expect me to do what, exactly?” Kamala asked. “I’m sitting in a room with three Avengers, and you think there’s something I can do to keep this kid safe that you can’t?”

“You can be our eyes and ears on the ground,” Clint said. “The Sahars won’t let me have anything to do with the baby. They marginally tolerate Natasha because she knows how to keep from offending them. I don’t even know what they would do about Jess!” He leaned forward, intending to plead with Kamala, further, but something in her expression stopped him. “What? What did I say?”

“You’re talking about the Sahar baby?” Kamala asked, with an air of someone who suddenly knew more than any of them had expected. “Hanifah Sahar?”

Clint nodded slowly, praying the entire morning wasn’t about to blow up in their faces.  
************************  
Kamala’s heart was suddenly racing as her two worlds smashed together. This ‘favor for your idol and the most perfect human being ever’ had suddenly gotten so much bigger and potentially uglier than she’d signed on for.

Like most of the ‘grown-up’ things that happened in her real life, Kamala knew a lot more about Ammin and Yasameen Sahar and how they came to raise their grand-niece than she was really supposed to. Nothing had ever been said about a connection to the Avengers, but it had been big news when a relative of the prominent and well-regarded Sahar family had been arrested and prosecuted for kidnapping, rape and other things that Ammi hadn’t spoken about loudly enough for Kamala to hear.

“Did he do it?” she asked at last, focusing on Hawkeye. The archer settled back in his chair, exhaling softly.

“He did,” he said at last. “And I’m not going to try and convince you he had a good reason for doing it. You probably know that a lot of us have things in our past we’d rather forget. Quinn is no different. What I am going to tell you is the man I love – the man I’m going to spend the rest of my life with, is not that man.”

Repentance and redemption were heavy concepts in Islam – especially in situations like this where the crimes were some of the worst anyone could commit. Kamala could feel herself starting to panic. She still wasn’t entirely certain what everybody wanted from her, but with each passing minute she was more and more certain this was nothing she would be able to keep secret from her family, or that she should even try. 

She was on the verge of saying as much and asking Jess to take her home, when Natasha caught her attention again. “This isn’t about Quinn,” the Black Widow said. “We’re not asking you to like him, or to approve or disapprove of Clint’s relationship. This is about a baby girl who had no say in who her parents were or why she was born.”

 _That_ Kamala could work with. She suddenly understood why Natasha Romanoff had the reputation she did. As much as she wanted to see both sides of the story, and not believe people she idolized were a part of something so horrible, Badria Sahar’s story was a tragedy that resonated with too many people in Kamala’s world. Putting the focus on an innocent child – where it belonged, as far as Kamala was concerned – brought everything into better perspective.

“Okay,” she said finally, “I’m not saying no, but I need to think about this. When do you need an answer?”

Hawkeye made a movement like he was going to argue with her, but Natasha reached across the table and silenced him with a touch on his arm. “The wedding is in six weeks,” she told Kamala. “You have time.”

Kamala got too her feet, nerves fluttering as the other Avengers followed her lead. “I’m sorry,” she said as Clint came around the table.

She was relieved when he smiled at her and shook his head. “Nothing to be sorry for. You haven’t said no yet.” He extended his hand, and she took it. “That’s more than I have the right to expect from you. Whatever you decide, I look forward to seeing your work in the future.”

“He’s really good at getting people to do what he wants, isn’t he?” Kamala asked, when she and Jess were safely walking downstairs again.

Spider-Woman laughed. “Kamala honey – you have no idea. And you held your ground with him – Carol is gonna die when we tell her!”

Kamala smiled at the thought of her idol being pleased with her, but the dilemma she was facing kept it from being as bright and fierce as it should have been. “Jess, what am I supposed to do?” she asked, glancing up at the older woman. “Hawkeye’s fiancé – he’s not a good guy, is he?”

Jess’ expression was suddenly very serious, and Kamala felt a crawling sensation in the pit of her stomach. “I haven’t spent a lot of time with him Kamala, but people I trust say that he’s changed. What I do know is that he loves Clint very much, and Clint loves him.” She paused. “I also know something about what was done to Quinn. By Badria Sahar. Everybody’s being careful not to tell you the whole story, but you need to know that there are no heroes and a lot of victims in this situation.”  
************************************  
Quinn’s stomach growled, but he couldn’t make himself move. Ammin Sahar had brought Hanifah to the park today. Unlike his wife, who tended to hover during visitation, Ammin would let Quinn interact with his daughter at a distance. Quinn would use the opportunity to take as many pictures and videos of the baby as he could. Hanifah was only three months old, but she was already a very expressive child. And she liked him. Quinn knew deep in his heart he was probably kidding himself, but she very rarely cried when he was holding her – and her laugh was the most magical sound he’d ever heard in his life.

The door to the apartment opened. “You home?” Clint called.

Quinn smiled, something easing inside him on hearing his lover’s voice. “In the kitchen!” he called. A few moments later he was being embraced from behind by strong, familiar arms, and Clint was nuzzling in close to his cheek.

“She’s getting big,” he said, looking at Quinn’s phone over his shoulder. “Gonna be a giant, just like her daddy.”

Shifting, Quinn kissed Clint hungrily. “I wish you could come with me,” he said, setting the phone on the table and turning his attention more fully on the archer. “It kills me that I can’t share this part of my life with you.”

“It’s not going to be this way forever,” Clint said, pulling free and taking the chair next to Quinn. “Natasha and I met with somebody today about extra security for Hanifah after we’re married.”

 _”We have to be smart about this. It’s bad enough that somebody from your past could see her as a target. Once everybody knows you’re married to an Avenger, it’s potentially open season.”_ “I thought we were going to handle that together?” Quinn asked, choosing his words carefully.

Clint ducked his head for a moment, a guilty look flashing across his expression. “You know Natasha’s right about the Sahars thinking you had any part in this.” He blew out a sharp breath. “I was going to insist that you be able to meet Kamala if she said yes, but now I’m not so sure that’s going to be a good idea.”

Quinn knew that Clint occasionally thought he was naïve and a romantic, but at times like this his lover’s faith in humanity was almost touchingly sweet. “She’s heard of me, hasn’t she?” he asked, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice. “Not much good, I’ll bet.”

He was relieved Clint didn’t try to deny it. “She didn’t tell me to go to hell,” he said, “so that’s something. She does want some time to think about it though – Nat gave her until the wedding to give us her answer.”

“Tash must be pretty sure she’s going to say yes,” Quinn said, considering the tactics. “Okay, so what’s she like – what do you think?”

Clint shrugged. “I think if she says yes, she’s perfect – exactly the kind of person the Sahars would be comfortable letting get close to the baby, and Carol and Jess swear both swear she’s powerful enough to hold off most mid-level threats and smart enough to rabbit with the kid if anything bigger comes calling.”

Quinn shuddered at the idea of something ‘bigger’ coming after his child and him being helpless to do anything about it. “Tony brought up the idea of suing for custody again,” he said, bracing for Clint’s response.

The archer’s hands clenched into fists. “Tony’s really free with advice when he’s not the one that has to have his life torn open. Are you ready to risk losing everything you have right now on the odds that he might be able to help us bullshit the courts?”

“No,” Quinn said, reaching out to touch his phone like a talisman. “It’s just hard sometimes…I’m not used to having to play by other people’s rules when it comes to things that matter this much.”

Clint immediately softened. “I hate always having to be the one to shoot you down, you know that, right?” He sighed. “We’re going to figure this out. I promise.”

A reminder that Clint had never been fully on board with the idea of Quinn having even partial custody of his daughter was on his lips, but Quinn abruptly decided that he didn’t want to fight. He’d had a good day with his little girl, Clint was doing the best he could for Quinn and Hanifah – nothing would be gained by rehashing questions they had no answers for.

“You hungry?” he asked instead.

Clint shrugged. “I could eat. You?”

Quinn exhaled softly, letting everything else fall away. “I’d rather take you into our bedroom, peel you out of those clothes, and spend the next several hours doing everything I can to drive you crazy.”

Smiling openly now, Clint pushed to his feet and moved until he was between Quinn’s thighs, looming over him with his hands gripping the arms of Quinn’s chair. “Why wait until we can get to the bedroom?”


End file.
